Lentil Bolognese

I think this is one of those things I made during veganuary and just forgot to update my blog with the recipe for it. Either way, this was one of the nicest things to make because the recipe has so much scope for substitutions in terms of core ingredients and that’s always nice because let’s be honest, not everyone eats the exact same thing all the time.

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 shallot, minced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2-3 carrots, finely shredded
• Pinch sea salt, plus more to taste
• 1/2 jar of tomato sauce
• Pinch red pepper flake
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp coconut sugar for sweetness, plus more to taste
• 1/2 cup water
• 3/4 cup red lentils, rinsed and drained

Method: 

1. Heat a large rimmed skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add oil, shallot, and garlic. Sauté for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently, until slightly softened and fragrant. Turn down heat if browning.
2. Add carrots and a pinch of salt and stir. Cook for 3-4 minutes more, then add tomato sauce and stir to coat.
3. Add red pepper flake, basil, oregano, coconut sugar, water, and lentils. Increase heat slightly and bring mixture to a simmer, then reduce heat to low/medium-low and continue cooking until lentils are tender – stirring occasionally – about 17-20 minutes. Add a bit more water if mixture gets too thick.
4. Once lentils are cooked, taste and adjust seasonings as needed, adding more salt to taste, coconut sugar for sweetness, red pepper flake for heat, or herbs for flavour balance.
5. Serve the bolognese over noodles of choice (I opted for plain old spaghetti).
6. Sauce will keep in the refrigerator up to 3 days or in the freezer 1 month.

This is honestly a great alternative to the heavier meats we often use in bolognese and it means that we don’t have to keep making vegan meals an afterthought. As always, let me know how you get on with making this, I would love to see what kind of modifications you make to it and bring your own kinds of flavours to it!

Recipe adjusted from Minimalist Baker.

Quick Fix Dinner

Today was definitely one of those days where I wanted to eat everything in the world but at the same time, felt like I couldn’t stomach a single thing without the urge to puke out everything that went in. Typically, this must mean that I should cook one of my favourite quick fix dinners because why not stuff yourself full of your favourite foods even when you know it won’t actually stay in… Anyway, it was dinner for one tonight since the family were all out, but I cooked for 6 nonetheless because it’s become force of habit now. So, the following recipes will feed (more like stuff) 6 people as a main dish.

Lemon Infused Couscous

Ingredients:

• 5 cups of couscous
• 5 cups of vegetable stock
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• Pinch of turmeric
• Handful of coriander/cilantro, roughly chopped

Method:

1. Heat a large wok over medium heat. Once hot, add the oil and the sliced onions and let cook for 3-5 minutes until soft and starting to brown.
2. In the meantime, in a large bowl pour the vegetable stock over the dried couscous and leave covered for a few minutes.
3. Add in the turmeric, salt, and lemon juice and let these flavours infuse while the couscous cooks itself.
4. When the couscous is nice and fluffy, add it into the wok and stir in with the other ingredients until well mixed.
5. Cover with a lid and let cook for about 5 minutes. Garnish with the chopped coriander/cilantro before serving.

Curried Carrots and Chickpeas

Ingredients:

• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped (I roughly chopped because I wasn’t that bothered)
• 2 tins of chickpeas, mostly drained (leave a bit of water in the tin because it helps later on)
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp oil
• Handful of coriander/cilantro
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• 1/2 tsp turmeric

Method:

1. Heat a small/medium saucepan over medium heat. Once hot, add the oil and the sliced onions and let cook for 3-5 minutes until soft and starting to brown.
2. Add in the carrots, salt, and turmeric and mix in well before leaving for 5 minutes to soften.
3. When the carrots have softened, add in the chickpeas, stir well and cover with a lid for about 3-5 minutes until the flavours have infused and all the vegetables have cooked through.
4. Garnish with coriander/cilantro and serve with the couscous – or just eat it on its own, it tastes great and is super filling.

I’m sure these two recipes have been up on my blog before but I feel like I’m definitely starting to master them and have gotten a lot faster at creating these meals that aren’t just good therapy for my soul, but also full of nutrients for my body. With the whole rise in popularity for the month of Veganuary, I will hopefully be trying to adapt more and more recipes to be both vegan friendly and packed full of Bangladeshi|Indian flavours. Let me know if you make any of these things by tagging me on instagram with either the tag #akx95 or a direct person tag with @akx95.

Cooked Couscous

Aaaaaand here’s the final item in the 30 minute blast dinner, cooked couscous. To be fair, this was the best I could do because basmati rice is a pain, pasta requires some saucy base, and, well, you can just cook couscous in some boiling water, haha. But all things considered, this tasted pretty good for something I thought of as a quick fix – especially considering I threw in a heap of leftover veggies from the fridge because they were on the verge of rotting.

Ingredients: 

• 4 cups couscous
• 4 cups boiling water
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 carrot, cut into small pieces
• 1/4 aubergine, cut into chunks
• 1 tomato, cut into small chunks
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp salt
• Few sprigs of coriander, chopped

Method:

1. In a bowl, add the boiling water to the couscous and cover with a plate to fluff up.
2. Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the onions, carrots, salt and aubergines until softened.
3. Add in the couscous and mix well, combining all the ingredients. Once combined, add in the tomatoes and mix through.
4. To garnish, sprinkle with some chopped coriander. Can be served hot or cold.

Aubergine Fritters

Say hellooooooo to my childhood. These aubergine fritters were the best thing ever and back in the day, they were like the fancy thing that mum would make once in a blue moon and I’d really look forward to. But now that I’ve grown up, I’ve found that these are the easiest things ever to make and I love them enough to go out of my way and find myself good aubergines. So, here, make some for yourself and treat yourself to some veggie goodness:

Ingredients:

• Aubergine, sliced into disks
• 1 cup flour
• Water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• Oil, for frying

Method:

1. In a bowl, combine the salt, flour and turmeric.
2. Add water in small increments until the mixture is runny but still thick enough to coat the aubergine slices.
3. Dip the aubergine slices in the mixture and coat them evenly.
4. In a large frying pan/wok, heat the oil and fry the slices until golden brown on each side.
5. Drain the oil on a paper towel. Serve immediately.

Staple Salad

If you’ve ever had the (unfortunate) opportunity to attend a dinner hosted by myself (and ignored my sweaty, stressed out face to focus on the food) you’ll know that salads are the staple to ALL of my meals (excluding breakfast because I need me some Coco Pops to make my day go well). Honestly, I love salads so much because you can just do SO MUCH with them. Some of my favourite salads include the likes of olives, croutons, pomegranates, peppers, and carrots. However, this one is really quite straightforward and is usually the one I make all the time because it’s made up of stuff that are already in my fridge.

Ingredients:

• Iceberg lettuce, roughly chopped
• Cucumber, sliced
• Tomatoes, sliced
• 2 tsps mint sauce

Method:

1. Toss all the ingredients in a bowl and serve as a side (or even as a main with things like tofu or chicken chunks).

Couscous Reboot

Ingredients:

• 1 cup couscous
• 1 cup vegetable stock (can also just use normal boiling water)
• 1/4 tomato, finely chopped
• 1/4 red onion, finely chopped
• 2 green chilies, halved lengthways
• 2 slices of tomato
• 3 slices of aubergine
• 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• Salt/pepper
• Lemon juice, 2 tsp

Method:

1. In a bowl, place the couscous and vegetable stock together. Mix in the finely chopped tomato, red onions, and green chilies. Cover with a plate/cling film and leave to soak and expand.
2. Drizzle the olive oil over the aubergine slices and coat with a little salt and pepper (can be as little/much as you’d like).
3. On a pan (I used a griddle pan), grill the aubergine and tomato slices until soft on both sides. Serve on top of the couscous with a drizzle of lemon juice when ready.

Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:

• 1 packet instant yeast
• 1 cup (240 ml) coconut milk
• 1/2 cup (112 g) vegan butter
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 cups (408 g) all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup cane sugar
• 1 cup powdered sugar (for icing)
• 2 tbsp coconut milk (for icing)

Method:

1. In the microwave at 30 sec increment, heat the milk and 3 tbsp butter until warm and melted, never reaching boiling. It should be warm but not too hot or it will kill the yeast.
2. Transfer mixture to a large mixing bowl and sprinkle on yeast. Let activate for 10 minutes, then add 1 tbsp sugar and the salt and stir.
3. Next add in flour 1/2 cup (68 g) at a time, stirring as you go. When it is too thick to stir, transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead for a minute or so until it forms a loose ball. Rinse your mixing bowl out, coat it with some oil, and add your dough ball back in. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm place to rise for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
4. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a thin rectangle. Brush with 3 tbsp melted butter and top with 1/4 cup sugar and 1 1/2 tbsp cinnamon.
5. Starting at one end, tightly roll up the dough and situate seam side down. Then with a serrated knife, cut the dough into 1.5 – 2 inch sections and position in a oven-proof pan. Brush with remaining 2 tbsp melted butter and cover with plastic wrap. Set on top of the oven to let rise again while you preheat oven to 180 degrees.
6. Once the oven is hot, bake rolls for 25-30 minutes or until slightly golden brown.
7. Frost with or a simple mixture of 1 cup (112 g) powdered sugar and 1-2 tbsp (15-30 ml) milk

Recipe taken from Minimalist Baker.
This recipe was supposed to yield 10 rolls, but my first attempt resulted in 16 and the second in 20.

Hyderabadi Haleem

Ingredients:

• Chicken
• Onions
• Oil
• Radhuni Haleem Mix
• Coriander
• Green chillies
• Cucumber
• Egg
• Lemon

Method:

1. Soak cereals and pulses from Radhuni Haleem Mix with 2 cups (250ml sized cup) of boiled water for 15 minutes.
2. Heat the oil in a broad vessel and fry the chopped onions until they turned golden brown. Pick two third of fried onion up.
3. Add the chicken pieces and sprinkle powdered spices from Radhuni Haleem Mix over the chicken. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Pour water as required and cook until the chicken is well boiled.
4. Put soaked cereals and pulses with water as required and cook, stirring frequently. When it comes to boil, simmer on a slow fire and stir occasionally with a wooden spatula.
5. Cook the mixture until the water evaporates to form thickened gravy.
6. Serve hot with fried onion, coriander leaves, chopped green chilli, cucumber chips, sliced egg and juice of lemon.

** this recipe can easily be made vegan by replacing the chicken with tofu and skipping the egg garnishing.